Oregon has prominent place on Southern Poverty Law Center's new list of U.S. hate groups
Updated May 17, 2019; Posted Feb 21, 2018

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) declared today that the white-supremacy movement continues to expand in the U.S. -- as does violence by white-nationalist groups.

The civil-rights and legal-advocacy nonprofit said in its just-published "Year in Hate" report that the U.S. had 954 active hate groups in 2017, a 4-percent increase from the year before. The sheer number of such organizations in the country, ranging from "alt-right" to black nationalist, is notable. But the SPLC says its list "understates the true level of hate in America, because a growing number of extremists, particularly those who identify with the alt-right, operate mainly online and may not be formally affiliated with a hate group."

Oregon, with its population of just over 4 million, appears to have a disproportionate number of hate-based organizations within its borders. (The U.S. overall has nearly 325 million people.) Below are the SPLC-listed hate groups that are based in or have chapters in Oregon or southwestern Washington. Some of the organizations on the list dispute the center’s definition of them.

“Generally,” writes the SPLC, antigovernment groups “define themselves as opposed to the ‘New World Order,’ engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines.” The center makes clear that their inclusion in its hate-group report “does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist.” Here are the ones in Oregon, according to the SPLC:

III%ers Security Force

III% United Patriots

American Patriot Party

American Patriots III%

Central Oregon Constitutional Guard

Embassy of Heaven

Freedom Bound International

Freedom from Government

Heirs of Patrick Henry

John Birch Society

McCutcheons Ink.

News With Views

Oath Keepers

Southern Oregon Constitutional Guard

Spectre Training Group

State of Jefferson Formation

Three Percenters-III%ers

The Voice of Freedom

You Have the Righ